The Human Resources (HR) Department and the Professional Staff Senate Subcommittee on Work/Life Balance have collaborated to bring greater awareness to flexible work arrangements available to staff.   As part of this exciting collaboration, we have also added more features to the existing HR Work/Life Balance  website highlighted below.

• ·         Alternative Work Arrangement FAQ’s (Frequently Asked questions)
• ·         Examples of Alternative Work Arrangements

These resources are also available on the PSS Work/Life Balancewebsite.  The HR Department and PSS will offer brown bag sessions on Alternative Work Arrangements.  The first session will be held October 27, 2017, from Noon to 1:00pm in The Commons, Room 331.  We hope that you will join us for what we anticipate will be an informative and engaging session.  Refreshments will be served. Sessions are open to all staff.  Supervisors and Managers are encouraged to attend.

For additional questions regarding these sessions, or flexible work arrangements contact the HR Department at http://hr.umbc.edu/support/.

We have been notified by the State Department of Budget and Management’s Employee Benefits Division (EBD) of the delay in the State Personnel System (SPS) implementation.  The EBD indicated this decision was made in an effort to ensure that EBD staff have a complete understanding of the system and how to use it for benefits administration in the various State agencies.  This will ensure that employee benefits enrollment and coverage are properly and accurately administered without delay or interruption. 

In the meantime, the open enrollment period will be October 12 through November 15, 2017.  All regular faculty and staff enrolled in benefits will have access to enroll for benefits, make changes to existing coverage, add dependents, etc. via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system used in prior years.  Retirees and Direct pay employees (contractual, part-time, employees on leave of absence) will be required to complete the appropriate enrollment form to enroll and/or make changes to existing coverage.   Those not making changes will not need to take action during this year’s open enrollment.  

Our HR Benefits Staff will continue with the original testing schedule previously outlined and targeted for completion August 28, 2017.   In addition, the process changes outlined in our initial campus notification will begin January 1, 2018, namely 

1. Effective Dates of Coverage: Coverage will begin on the 1^st of the month following the start date of a new hire or the “Qualifying Event” date (such as marriage, loss of coverage, divorce, etc.). Effective dates for newborns will be adjusted to the actual date of birth. Employee will be billed by the State of Maryland back to their effective date of coverage.
2. Terminations:  Coverage will terminate on the last day of the month in which an employee separates from employment.

Updates regarding the SPS implementation, as well as the annual Open Enrollment process will be available on the HR website under Benefits. The annual health fair is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, October 3^rd from 11:00 – 2:00 in the University Center Ballroom.  More details about open enrollment will be distributed at the fair.   Questions about open enrollment can be directed to benefits at hrbenefits@umbc.edu